Five arrested as ultra-Orthodox protesters rally against draft in Jerusalem
Some 100 demonstrate near recruitment offices before being driven away by water cannon and mounted officers; protesters continue to disrupt light rail service in capital
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Ultra-Orthodox men held protests in Jerusalem Wednesday against efforts to draft members of the community into the Israel Defense Forces.
Some 100 men protested near the IDF’s Jerusalem recruitment office in the morning before being dispersed by police. Officers used force to get demonstrators off roads and away from the area, police said. A water cannon and mounted officers were deployed. Police said they declared the protest illegal as some of the participants rioted, blocked nearby roads and threw objects at officers.
After the dispersal, several dozen ultra-Orthodox protesters continued to Jaffa road, where they attempted to disrupt Jerusalem’s light rail service, resulting in delays along the route between the Central Bus Station and the Old City, the Jerusalem-based Kol Ha’ir outlet reported.
Five arrests were made, police said, and an investigation opened into a physical altercation between a passing motorist and a demonstrator.
Earlier demonstrators repeatedly tried to breach police roadblocks near the recruitment center while clashing with cops and hurling insults at them, calling them “Nazis” and “Hezbollah.” Media reports from the scene said they chanted anti-enlistment slogans, including “We would rather die than enlist” and “[We choose] prison and not the army.”
In a landmark decision on June 25, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military, since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
The court ruling also permanently barred the state from funding ultra-Orthodox yeshivas for students who are studying in them in lieu of military service, asserting that those funds were bound up in the terms of the IDF service exemptions which now no longer exist.
סוער על הבוקר בירושלים. המשטרה ניסתה לחסום צעירים מלהגיע ללשכת הגיוס, אך הם פרצו את המחסומים. pic.twitter.com/jCe837vVNU
— Merav Sever (@meravseve) August 21, 2024
The High Court’s decision meant that after decades of political and societal controversy and strife over the issue, there is now a legal obligation for young Haredi men to join the rest of the Jewish Israeli community and serve in the military.
The military subsequently said it would at first seek to enlist some 3,000 young men from the community, while catering to their needs.
So far, however, only a small minority of the community members who have received a call-up have actually reported to recruitment offices, amid staunch opposition to military enlistment by most ultra-Orthodox leaders, who fear the army service will secularize recruits.
The IDF is suffering manpower shortages caused by the hostilities on the northern border and the ongoing war in Gaza, which began on October 7, when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities, slaughtering 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
On Tuesday, the defense establishment started recalling to duty some 15,000 previously exempted reservists, many of whom have already served in Gaza combat.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.